The Web Poetry Corner - James Bredin - The Smoke from the Nuclear Power Station

The Smoke from the Nuclear Power Station

by

James Bredin

The Ukraine city of Pripyat died in nineteen eighty six,
Nothing left but the sarcophagus - a huge big pile of bricks,
Since the Chernobyl nuclear station burned, they all fled,
And died by the thousands in their radiated cancer dread.

Those who didnít die were doomed to the memory of misery,
Because they had believed their governmentís demagoguery,
That Chernobyl was safe and bureaucrats would never never lie,
They needed a source - a huge nuclear electrical supply.

And radiation exposure is a dreadful way to go,
As they tell us the CANDU reactors will never never blow,
And just like the poor people of Pripyat our people believe,
And government propaganda is all weíre allowed to receive.

Letís hope that Pickering or Darlington will never never burn,
But should the people who live downwind show the slightest concern?
Is the distant government in Ottawa so truthful and square?
Or should those who are watching the smoke say the occasional prayer?